Using Exaggerated Feedback in a Virtual Reality Environment to Enhance Behavior Intention of Water-Conservation

Abstract

Taiwan has long been categorized as a country suffering from water shortages. The acquisition of knowledge and development of the concept of water conservation, and the development water conservation habits, are considered a civic responsibility of the citizens. The purpose of the present study was to utilize an immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) to create virtual experiences that expose individuals to vivid information with personal relevance and immediacy in hopes of increasing the behavior intention to conserve water. A mediated virtual experience was provided in the form of an experiential learning game, in which participants were situated in a virtual bathroom and asked to repeatedly use a 600-milliliter bottle to fill a specific water tank to flush a toilet and take a one-minute shower. While consuming the water resources, participants received exaggerated feedback (EF) to intensify the negative consequences of water consumption (direct EF) and/or environmental damage (ambient EF) that emphasized personal affective responses. A total of 165 players, separated into four groups according to the ambient or/and direct EF conditions, experienced the game activities. ANOVA was used to examine the effects of the experimental intervention. The results showed that the immersive virtual reality game in this study caused significant changes in cognition and behavior intention. This study contributes a novel persuasive technology specific to water resources.

Keywords

• water environmental education
• water conservation
• virtual reality
• experiential learning
• exaggerated feedback